This pretense that we can all buy homes and cars, and fill them up with stuff has gotten out of hand. Being nice and enabling poor behavior is the quickest way for the socioecosystem to collapse, which is why the empire is experiencing a myriad of dangerous weather events. Despite data, the real estate industry is not evolving, and government at multiple levels still believes that more housing will reduce the price, even though luxury housing is mostly what people are building. At this point in time, people need to start learning to share homes and share quickly, because the planet is already on fire.
In 2022, I was struggling to find a place to live, and I had an interview with a housing co-op, in which I would have had my own air-conditioned room, and enough space for all of the belongings that I kept from storage. Even though I would be the only Black person in a white housing co-op, I was running out of time, so I was hoping that I would be accepted by the time my lease was up at the end of March. Sadly, I went to one meeting, during which I though everything went well, but I never heard from that opportunity again. For this reason, I was forced to beg for money, and I entered a toxic housing situation in which I was pushed to leave after several boundary violations. Thus, my toxic roommate was able to live alone in a comfortable home, which would not have been possible if I had not helped in the first place.
Fast forward to 2025, and I had returned to Austin to stay with a “friend,” who made it clear that I would be commanded to rejoin a group that I left years ago and that my private conversations would be dissected at her comfort–similar to my last toxic living environment. This individual could not be honest and state that she felt entitled to live in a borrowed three bedroom, two bathroom house all by herself with a dog–despite being low on funds and only having a part-time job. Regardless of our “friendship,” and my demonstrated efforts to cook and clean, and an offer to pay, it was more important for her to live alone than to adjust to a life with less. After a week, I decided that the terms would be too emotionally unhealthy, and I was looking for a place to live that would allow me to do what I needed to do without compromising my emotional safety.
Ironically, I looked into the short-term rental market, even though I have mixed feelings about short-term rentals because they are used for displacement. One of the rentals discussed shared rooms, multiple common areas, and in-home laundry. I had wanted to find a place where I could at least have my own room, but my “friend” was becoming increasingly controlling, and was demanding my removal if I was unwilling to allow that control. She was nice enough to drive me to my new location despite my offer to use a rideshare, but that was the second to last time I would see her based on such behavior.
At this point, I will have stayed at this location for almost four months, and it has been the most tranquil communal experience I have ever had. Because there are a variety of ages and work situations, the home is quiet, which allowed me to complete a customer service contract during tax season. Someone living alone would pay a mortgage of $4000/month for this unit, but because all the utilities are included, residents can pay $500/month while transitioning to their next location. Basically, there is a social contract of human decency because none of us knew each other before meeting in this home. Some of us interact with others, but some of us are barely visible to everyone else. Is this lifestyle a perfect utopia without any issues? Absolutely not, because people are people, but when things are discordant, we all understand the responsibility to communicate.
To live in a different world where people are acknowledging the climate crisis, the short answer is that everyone will be required to get over ourselves. Even though the empire continues to sell the lie that everyone can have everything we want, we need to understand that there is a price to selfishness that will eventually come due. Living with other people is completely possible, and that is the only way that living costs and environmental degradation can be reduced.
Chasing A Dying Empire 